ipl-logo

John Searle's The Chinese Room Argument

1040 Words5 Pages

The Chinese Room Argument was a thought experiment presented by an American philosopher by the name of John Searle. The Chinese room argument is a concept that refutes the idea of a strong artificial intelligence also known as Strong Al. Strong Ai is “the view that an appropriately programmed digital computer capable of passing the Turing test would thereby have mental states and a mind in the same sense in which human beings have mental states and a mind” (Searle, 2005). However the opposing view of weak Al is distinguished by the view that the computer is a useful tool in studying the mind, just as it is a useful tool in other disciplines ranging from molecular biology to weather prediction. In the following essay I will explain in detail …show more content…

If the human understood Chinese, both the computer and the human could converse with the Chinese student, but the computer still would not understand Chinese just how to respond appropriately based on the right inputs. According to Searle the Chinese Room Argument has three steps and a conclusion listed below. 1. Computer programs are defined entirely in terms of symbolic or syntactic operations. 2. Minds – Actula human minds such as yours and mine – have mental contents or semantics. 3. By themselves, the implemented synthetic steps of the program are neither constitutive of mental content nor sufficient to guarantee the presence of mental content. 4. Conclusion – The implemented computer program is insufficient by itself to constitute or to guarantee the presence of the appropriate mental …show more content…

Therefore, the lack of understanding of the person in the room is only one piece of the puzzle. The systems itself is made up of more puzzle pieces to include, the room the instructions the database, etc. “So the understanding should be found in the entire system, not in the person, because the person is only the central processing unit. (Searle, 2005).” The refutation of this reply meaning needs to be attached to symbols in order for them to understand. However Searle believes that is no way to attach meaning to symbols, therefore, the entire system is in no better position to understand the semantics behind than symbols than a single individual

Show More
Related
556 Words | 3 Pages

Additionally, he puts in that “ChatGPT has significant further capabilities” (Hern). His evidence used include experts, examples, historical, and definition. The author doesn’t seem to change the topic, which is significant for understanding his claim and where he is coming from. Although his evidence is strong and explains what all AI is capable of, he doesn’t explain how it will take the jobs of people or how it could affect us. Had he explained to readers exactly how this is a bad thing, it isn’t too clear on how he feels about his claim.

Read More
1452 Words | 6 Pages

In the article “What the disciples learned while grieving in ‘The Upper Room’” by James F. Keenan. The author dives into the importance of the “Upper Room” regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ after crucifixion. Keenan explores the disciples' experiences post crucifixion, following their journey through grievance to the recognition of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The beginning of the article sets the initial understanding of the disciples' feelings of disbelief, fear and mourning of Jesus’ death. Citing passages from the Gospels of John, Mark, Luke, and Acts.

Read More
423 Words | 2 Pages

Materialism is the idea that everything that exists is material. John Searle is a philosopher who questions if computers can think. Searle believes that both physical things and mental things exist. He believes that there are four mental features of human existence that need to be accounted for, these are consciousness, intentionality, subjectivity and mental causation. Searle has two interesting arguments for materialism.

Read More
690 Words | 3 Pages

In 1840, Brisbane became a regional community for free settlers of these many families desired to have their children educated. These settling families, mostly with Irish catholic backgrounds, believed that education was able to provide jobs and financial security for the family not only for the child/children. The catholic church believed schools were a high priority not only for education that lead to jobs and financial security, but to strengthen the catholic church and its community in Brisbane. (Ryan, 2009) As the Catholic Church felt so strongly about establishing schools and education for the children of the early settlers, new schools were often built first in new areas and then the church was built.

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

It is extremely ironic that in his writings, Zhuangzi often employs language and logical argument to undermine the usefulness of language and logical argument. Setting aside the problem of this possible inconsistency, here I will explain Zhuangzi’s argument regarding truth and human capacity–or lack thereof–to understand it. Zhuangzi begins by describing a familiar situation: You and I have opposing views on a topic and argue to figure out who is right and who is wrong. Suppose one of us “wins” the debate–that is to say, one of us makes an argument to which the other can give no satisfactory response. Now, Zhuangzi poses the rhetorical question: Is the winner necessarily right and the loser necessarily wrong?

Read More
1470 Words | 6 Pages

John Searle 1980(in Cooney, 2000), provides a thought experiment, commonly called the Chinese room argument (CRA), to show that computers, programmed to simulate human cognition, are incapable of understanding language. The CRA requires us to consider a scenario where Searle, who is illiterate in Chinese, finds himself locked in a room with a book containing Chinese characters. Additionally, he has a book containing a set of instructions written in English (which he understands), that allows him to match and manipulate the Chinese characters so that he can provide appropriate written responses (in Chinese) to incoming questions (also written in Chinese). Moreover, Searle has a pile of blank paper which he uses to write down his answers. Subsequently, Searle becomes so proficient in providing responses that the quality of his answers matches that of a native Chinese speaker.

Read More
1227 Words | 5 Pages

John Searle’s Chinese Room argument is a thought experiment in which Searle tries to refute the Turing Test and Strong AI. It involves a person, a room, 2 slots labeled A and B, and 3 pieces of paper. The Chinese Room argument was aimed at the position called “Strong AI” (Cole), also known as Representational Theory of the Mind, and against the Turing Test created by Alan Turing. The problem with the Chinese Room argument is that it misses the point entirely – Searle compares a CPU or computer to a person, a non-conscious object with a conscious agent (Cole). The argument also gets extrapolating the functions of the brain from a greater whole to a smaller part of the brain wrong – as a whole you may know things, but certain areas of the brain will always know more than we consciously do.

Read More
1919 Words | 8 Pages

Conclusion: The mind is substantively different from the body and indeed matter in general. Because in this conception the mind is substantively distinct from the body it becomes plausible for us to doubt the intuitive connection between mind and body. Indeed there are many aspects of the external world that do not appear to have minds and yet appear none the less real in spite of this for example mountains, sticks or lamps, given this we can begin to rationalize that perhaps minds can exist without bodies, and we only lack the capacity to perceive them.

Read More
1367 Words | 6 Pages

Based upon the analysis, Parnas’ article is geared more towards people involved in the field of Artificial Intelligence where Eldridge’s article is geared towards people who are not necessarily knowledgeable about Artificial Intelligence yet are interested to learn more about the topic. Throughout the article, Parnas maintains the skeptical attitude towards Artificial Intelligence, literally ending with “Devices that use heuristics to create the illusion of Intelligence present a risk we should not accept” (Parnas, 6). Eldridge on the other hand, maintains a positive attitude throughout the article despite the shortcomings of AI. Together, both authors provide compelling arguments for and against Artificial

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

In “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” John Locke, assert that empiricism is the right way to view the world. Empiricism is the doctrine that knowledge comes from sensory experience. In the paragraphs that follow I plan on explaining why I agree with Locke’s position on Knowledge. In order to discuss my opinion, I must first discuss what John Locke’s empiricism is.

Read More
470 Words | 2 Pages

John Searle believes that machines are not capable of “thinking” as humans and he developed the Chinese Room to support his theory (Searle). The Chinese Room argument is meant to prove that strong artificial intelligence does not have human intelligence. Searle describes this as human intentionality (Searle). The Chinese Room argument involves a person, fluent in English only, sitting in a room.

Read More
1042 Words | 5 Pages

The Turing test has become the most widely accepted test of artificial intelligence and the most influential. There are also considerable arguments that the Turing test is not enough to confirm intelligence. Legg and Hutter (2007) cite Block (1981) and Searle (1980) as arguing that a machine may appear intelligent by using a very large set of

Read More
811 Words | 4 Pages

In the same pedestal, the book makes it profound that sense is possessed by a name, and this is not contingent on its reference. However, he argues that two or more signs can be used to refer to one thing, but its identity remains. He combines the three important items such as sign, sense, and object, which all have important roles to play in regards to sense and reference. Frege is not much interested in the truth of the used proposition but is more focused on what people do when making utterances in certain ways. More importantly, he argues that the reference to a sentence would not prove its truth-value.

Read More
798 Words | 4 Pages

Artificial Intelligence is the field within computer science to explain some aspects of the human thinking. It includes aspects of intelligence to interact with the environment through sensory means and the ability to make decisions in unforeseen circumstances without human intervention. The beginnings of modern AI can be traced to classical philosophers' attempts to describe human thinking as a symbolic system. MIT cognitive scientist Marvin Minsky and others who attended the conference

Read More
896 Words | 4 Pages

The attraction of artificial intelligence for me lies in its breadth of applicability, both as a method of problem solving in itself and in a symbiotic integration with other areas of computer science. A broad spectrum of applications exist within the artificial intelligence field, ranging from intelligent non-player controlled characters in computer game software to a ubiquitous computing solution that intelligently reacts to a variety of users. This diversity is one of the main reasons that I feel compelled to pursue artificial intelligence further. While I have striven to develop my understanding of artificial intelligence during my undergraduate education, the choreographed requirements of a bachelor's degree have restricted my research to only a minute sample of artificial intelligence’s applications. During my exposure to the field, I have often been unsatisfied with the level of interaction artificial intelligence displays in response to prompts of varying complexity.

Read More

More about John Searle's The Chinese Room Argument

Related Topics

Open Document